


Up to our necks

by AshaCrone



Series: Hot Water [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Hot Springs & Onsen, bad clone jokes, casual alcohol use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-14 07:05:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11777991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshaCrone/pseuds/AshaCrone
Summary: #letallshirosrest2017One man in three bodies walk into a hot spring for a break. Shiro, Kuron and Sven get up to their necks in hot water and love every minute of it.





	Up to our necks

**Author's Note:**

> Someone on tumblr drew a picture of a cold, sad looking Kuron. I felt the need to send the Shirogane boys to an onsen. This may become a theme for me. 
> 
> I should note that I am not Japanese, but have a deep love of onsen, and I hope I have been respectful and am writing from first hand experience.

One man in three bodies walked into an onsen. 

“I hope I do this right,” Sven said, stepping out of his plastic slippers and on to the straw mat floor. “I’ve gone to a few saunas in my time, but this is a bit different, I think.” He gestured to the many shelves, topped with baskets. “Clothes in there? You don’t wear trunks, yeah?”

“Yes. We’ll keep you from making too many mistakes,” Shiro said, rubbing at the scar on his nose. “But don’t worry. We’re here to relax, eat some good food, knock back a few beers-“

Kuron chuckled quietly. “You were already practicing for that-“

“Urusaichiya. I just had one. I saw you eying the sake list.”

“You were too. They have some good local breweries,” Kuron answered. He had already turned to a basket and was pulling off his vest and shirt, folding them neatly, putting down his towels and yukata, a smile crossing his face as he unbuckled his belt and stepped out of his pants. 

Shiro frowned deeply at the way Kuron’s rips and hips jutted form his skin, and just how easy it was to count all of the vertebrae on his back. But it wasn’t as bad as it had been a few weeks ago. “The local specialty is beef cooked in miso on a hoba leaf with mushrooms and butter. The restaurant has that here. We need something to go with all of that alcohol,” Shiro answered. Though he was grateful that Hunk had apparently been feeding Kuron.

“Sounds good.” Shiro started pulling off his own clothes, and looked up in time to see the same sympathetic glance tossed his own way and- well, he’d actually eaten and-

Oh.

His time as Champion had left their own marks.

“Hey, yoo-hoo. What am I supposed to do?” Sven called, also naked and looking at the glass sliding door that lead to the bath itself. 

The two men turned to him. “We’re coming!” Kuron said, tossing his washing towel over his neck. 

Sven stood there, also naked, his own scars different from the other two. In fact, there was-

“Is that a tattoo?” Shiro asked him as they walked into the bath and looked around. This particular onsen had several different facilities. There were the usual showers, mirrors, stools and buckets for washing. There was also a high-pressure stream falling from a wall to double as a back and neck massage, a shallow pool of warm water and rounded stone support for your head so you could stretch out, a deeper pool that was strewn with chamomile and a door that lead to an outside pool. There was also a set of stairs that did, indeed, lead to a sauna and a cold pool and showers.

“Ah, yeah, not quite,” Sven muttered, moving his right arm. “It’s… well. You see, the Alteans had myself and my team captured…” His shoulders hitched. “And Chief and Shorty-“ he stopped, took a deep breath to recompose himself. “They like to mark their property.”

Shiro let the subject drop, swallowing hard. 

Kuron immediately found a stool, turned on the water spout and filled up one of the wooden buckets and dumped it over his head. 

“First, you can sit down. Wash thoroughly. There’s stuff-“ and he pointed to the large bottles of body shampoo, shampoo and rinse. “Rinse off. You can use the bucket or shower. When we’re done you can use whatever you like.”

“I call dibs on the massage fountain,” Kuron said after a few moments. “Want me to wash your back, Shiro?”

“We can take turns washing each other’s back,” Sven answered as he used the shower to douse himself. “Hm.” He fiddled with the temperature control, rinsed again, and then lathered up his towel to start scrubbing. Shiro followed suit. For several moments, there was little but chitchat; Kuron and Shiro sharing their first memories of onsen with Sven, and he spoke of the few times he had been to saunas.

Shiro laughed as they lined up, Kuron twisting to present his back to Shiro, and Shiro felt Sven do the same for him. “Mama used to do this with me when I was little,” Shiro explained to Sven. 

“Did you come often with your family?” 

“I did,” Kuron answered. “Mama loved hot springs. Said they kept her young.” 

A few moments later, Kuron was getting up and scrubbing down Sven’s shoulders and back, down to his hips. Shiro glanced over as he rinsed himself off again, seeing Kuron apply the same ‘fuck, let’s take care of the new puppy’ expression he had surely worn earlier. 

“Well. This gives new meaning to the phrase ‘self-care,’” Shiro said, before a towel and a bucket of water was thrown in his face. 

He sputtered, but didn’t retaliate as his two other selves peeled apart, Kuron going to the fountain, and Sven tried out the chamomile pool. Shiro went to join him a few moments later, enjoying the scent of the steam and the way his muscles went to jelly.

“If I don’t come out again, you can leave me,” Sven said, closing his eyes and putting his towel on his head, leaning back. “I will die happy.”

There was a snort as Kuron came back over, and he slipped into the water as well. “Remember that rose bath Mama liked?”

“Yeah,” Shiro answered. “That water was so hot I could only stay for a few minutes.”

They continued reminiscing, even as they got out later to try the sauna. Sven, predictably, was able to out-sit them there. (Thankfully there was a drinking water dispenser nearby. And they all gulped and jumped into the cold water and yelped when Shiro took his revenge from earlier by dunking Kuron and Sven declared war on them both and they made a huge mess)

They went to the outside pool for a few moments, just enjoying the bright red maple leaves and the cool breeze and fresh air.

“Do you think it’s going to snow soon?” Kuron asked, catching a leaf as it fell towards the pool.

“Probably not for another month, but we’re in the mountains. I don’t know,” Shiro offered.

“I imagine that this place is nice in the snow,” Sven said, then looked around. “Are you ready to go eat?”

“Always,” Shiro and Kuron said together, and laughed at each other. Shiro slapped Kuron on the back and tried to ignore the feel of bone under skin. “Let’s go.”

They got out, wandering through the bath back to their clothes, drying off and tying on their yukata to head to restaurant. 

Their table was already laid out. Shiro smiled beatifically as he sat seiza and reached for a cold bottle of Asahi beer, popping it open and pouring glasses for both Sven and Kuron. Kuron smirked as he returned the favor.

“Tell me, if you are pouring for your clone, does it count as pouring for yourself?” Sven asked, a silly smile on his face. “Because I’ve been told that’s rude-“

“Can we stop with the clone jokes already?” Kuron muttered, but he was smiling as well, even as he grabbed Shiro’s arm as he brought his glass of beer to his lips. “We haven’t had the toast yet.”

“I’m practicing.”

“We always were diligent.” He elbowed Shiro in the ribs. “Then let’s make a toast. To us. To surviving. To… getting a chance for a rest, once in a while.” He lifted his glass. 

“We’ve had a rough few years, and we deserve this vacation,” Shiro added.

“And we have earned the peace that follows Voltron,” Sven replied, joining them in raising their glasses. They leaned in, clinking their glasses together.

“ _Kanpai!_ ”


End file.
